YouTube is developing a new initiative that will allow producers to monetise their long-form films that use licenced music.
At today’s Made on YouTube event, the firm launched Creator Music, which allows content producers to incorporate famous music in their films without losing income. Creators have two options: they may licence songs directly and retain all of the cash (less YouTube’s 45 per cent cut), or they can split the revenue with the licence holders. According to Billboard, video developers and musicians each get 27.5 per cent of the revenue.
Using music has proven difficult for YouTube producers, who have traditionally had to utilise royalty-free music to protect their videos from being demonetized. Using even a little amount of a big artist’s music without permission may result in the video being prohibited or a section of it being muted. The new initiative is now in beta in the United States and will be expanded to other nations next year.
YouTube has agreements with more than 50 labels, publishers, and distributors, yet big labels do not seem to be among them. YouTube informed the outlet that “hundreds of thousands” of songs would be available for licencing via Creator Music. Jason Derulo, for one, seemed to be enthusiastic about it!
Creator Music is one of the most significant announcements from YouTube’s event today, and it is yet another attempt by YouTube to draw producers to the site. Last week, the firm said that it will discontinue the creator fund and instead launch an ad revenue sharing scheme to compete with TikTok on Shorts, the platform’s TikTok clone. The income split for short-form videos will be 45 per cent, with YouTube retaining 55 per cent – the opposite of the revenue share for longform videos.
